The Crone
by TiGracchus
Summary: A woman from the future has come to take revenge on Clark. Will the Justice League be able to stop her? Set post season 11 comic Detective. Slight AU from future scene of Finale. Clark and Lois are married.
1. Prolog

Prolog

Sometime in the future

An old woman sat alone in her apartment reading a book. It was late at night and the local news was about to come on. She folded the corner of the page to mark her place. She got up from her couch and went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. She grabbed the tea pot and filled it with water before putting it on the stove top. While waiting for the water to boil she opened up the cupboard and got out her tea.

Suddenly a flash of light appeared in her living room. She calmly walked towards the flash. When she reached the living room, she saw the young man standing before her, and said, "I wondered who would come to seek my help. I should have known that it would be the White Triangle."

Nodding an acknowledgement the young man said, "for an old woman you are rather knowledgeable and brave. You are the one they call the Crone?"

"I am. Now transport me to this date," said the old woman holding out a piece of paper she kept at her pocket at all times.

"First, you will tell me your plan to get rid of Superman before I agree to anything. We of the White Triangle want him dead before he becomes a symbol of hope to the galaxies," replied the young man.

The Crone raised her other hand and a greenish blast of energy flew across the room hitting the young man square in the face before he could so much as flinch. His body crumpled to the floor. The Crone walked over to the body and bent down to pull the gold ring off his finger. As she got back up she heard the tea pot whistle.

"Death would be too easy for him. I will not suffer fools spoiling my plan, but I will have my tea first," said the Crone to no one. She went back to the kitchen to have her tea. She finished her tea and put on the ring. She then disappeared in a flash of light, leaving behind a dirty teacup and a dead body.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Present time (some time in the future post season 11 but this is the present time for this story)

Lois opened her eyes. The sun was streaming in through the window directly on to her face. Instantly she thought _Clark, you forgot to close the drapes when you went out on a save!_ Then, she smelled the coffee coming from the kitchen and she mentally forgave him. Lois then rolled over away from the sunlight and sat up. She looked down at Clark's old football jersey and decided she was decent enough for breakfast. She walked out of the bedroom and saw Clark facing the stove as he was finishing up breakfast. He was wearing a white t-shirt and pajama pants. Lois smiled and thought to herself, _no matter how hard I try to get him to sleep in less he stays with the white shirt and plaid pajamas._ _Despite the plaid, he does look sexy in that white shirt_.

"Morning Smallville" said Lois as she walked to the cupboard to get out her coffee mug.

"Smallville eh, did I do something wrong?" replied Clark.

"You forgot and left the drapes open again, when you went to save someone last night or early this morning. I didn't get to sleep in" she said with a faux pout.

"What makes you think I forgot? You know we have work today. I know you had a great time at Oliver's birthday party but that was 2 nights ago."

"Yeah yeah… I'm still tired for some reason. I guess I just need more coffee," responded Lois as she poured herself a cup of coffee. She sat down at the bar. In front of her was a plate with two pieces of toast and two pieces of bacon on it. Clark spun around with the skillet in hand and put two eggs on his plate and one on Lois's. Lois looked over at Clark with frown on her face.

"What? You never want more than one egg."

"I feel extra hungry today," said Lois as she used her fork and one of her pieces of toast to take one of Clark's eggs. "Besides it's not like you need to eat it"

Clark sat there and stared at her. He watched as she quickly ate everything in front of her. When she looked again at his plate, Clark used his super speed to grab it away from her reach. He quickly ate his food before she could steal anymore of it.

Lois saw this and started to protest but then stopped. "oh" She let out as she ran to the bathroom. Clark followed her. Lois was already kneeling at the toilet when Clark kneelt down beside her. He used one hand to hold her hair back and the other to comfort her. He stayed with her while her breakfast came back up.

"Lois, are you ok?" he asked.

"I don't know" she answered truthfully. "I think I must have had some bad sushi at Ollie's"

"I dunno, you should go get checked out" said Clark as Lois was gargling some mouth wash.

"Ugh! Fine. I have to meet a source before going in to the office. We are meeting near S.T.A.R. labs so I'll see if Emil can squeeze me in"

"Lois. You should go to your regular doctor. Emil could be busy"

Lois stopped brushing her teeth and spit before saying "First of all if Emil is good enough to be the personal doctor of Superman and the rest of the Justice League then he should be good enough to take care of a mere mortal like me. He did figure out a way to get rid of that radiation stuff Lex sprayed on you. And second the last regular doctor you made me go see turned out to be brainwashing his patients into becoming his personal hit squad." Lois said all this all the while waving her tooth brush at Clark, as if to make her point more emphatic.

"I didn't make you go see Dr. Mendenhall. You went to him to dig up a story, but besides that, Emil has a whole lab to run." Responded Clark as before he grabbed his own toothbrush.

"You said it yourself that Vergil Swann created S.T.A.R. labs to help the traveler, that's you. And I am your wife, so I should get some of those benefits too…"

"Lois…" he tried to protest while he was brushing his own teeth.

"Don't Lois me! I can either go to Emil or I'm not going to anyone."

"Fine" he said exasperated.

"Geeze Smallville I wonder sometimes if anyone else could handle you. I mean if I hadn't gown up arguing with the General and making sure Lucy didn't pull a fast one on me I don't think I would be able to convince you sometimes."

"I don't care if there is no one else because I know you're the only one for me" he said as he grabbed her and kissed her.

After recovering from the kiss, Lois looked past Clark and saw the clock. "I'm going to be late!" She ran past him and into her closet to get some clean clothes on. Clark finished in the bathroom and went back to the kitchen to clean up after breakfast. He just finished the last dish as Lois fully clothed and her hair finished ran past him. She grabbed a banana and said "Don't forget we have that meeting with Perry at 11. Bye babe."

Clark quickly got dressed and put on his glasses before leaving for the day. He made his way across town. He stopped at the news stand across the street from the Planet for coffee. He went up to the light and waited for the crossing walk signal.

"Excuse me young man has someone already hit the button?" came a voice next to Clark. He turned and saw next to him an elderly lady holding two large bags of groceries waiting for the light like him.

"Yes mam' here let me help you with those."

"Oh I don't want to trouble you. Besides you have your coffee."

Clark quickly finished his coffee and tossed the cup into the nearest trash can, "There. No excuses now" he said as he motioned for her to give him the bags.

"Well, OK" she said as she handed over the bags. Clark carried the bags across the street for her and she said, "my building is right over here" she pointed down the street. He walked with her up the steps to her doorway. "Ok young man now let me give you something for your trouble" she said as she started to look through her purse.

"No ma'am I couldn't. It was no trouble at all."

"Wow, it seems you can take the farm boy out of Smallville but not the Kent manners"

"How … Agh!" Clark collapsed as a green light started to emanate from the old lady. The bags spilled over.

"You and your selflessness. Have you ever heard 'no good deed goes unpunished?' But no, to kill you would be too easy. You deserve a life filled with pain Clark Kent! You will suffer for all the pain you have caused me!"

"Wha?"

"I will make sure all those you love suffer before you and only when you beg for your own death will my vengeance be satisfied!" and then she was gone in a flash of purple light.

One of the apples form the grocery bag had rolled down the street and a pedestrian looked up to see where it came from. They saw Clark on the landing still dazed. "Sir, are you all right?" they said as they ran up the stairs.

Clark was still a little dazed but said, "yeah… I think so. Did you see where the old lady went?"

"I think you hit your head Mr. I didn't see any old lady here, just you and your groceries. Do you need help to get inside?"

"No. um thanks. I was actually on my way to work. Thank you for your help. I guess I must have slipped" said Clark as he gathered up the produce that had spilled out onto the street.

"Your taking groceries with your to work?"

"No. I mean yes. Well, it's bring your favorite healthy snack day at work. I never can decide what my favorite is, so I am bringing them all. Thanks again." said Clark as he started down the stairs holding the groceries. He quickly walked down the street towards the Daily Planet. He didn't feel like getting stopped and asked 20 questions about the bags so he super sped past everyone until he got to his and Lois's office. He put the bags down in the corner and got his cellphone out. He dialed Watchtower.

"Go for watchtower" came the slightly robotic sound of Tess Mercer's voice. Clark and the league had rescued her from being trapped inside Lex's mind when she used the neurotoxin on him after he had stabbed her. She had been trapped inside for almost a year but Dr. Hamilton and Bruce Wayne had figured out a way to transfer her mental imprint into a modified H.E.D. unit. Tess took her transition into the automaton better than commander Henshaw had.

"Tess, put the league on alert I was just attacked."

"Do you need assistance?"

"No, she's gone now. I didn't recognize her but she knew who I was and about Clark Kent. I'm texting you the address now. When you check the street cameras it was the old lady. I carried her bags for her and she unleashed something on me. I think it was green kryptonite but she didn't wave it at me. I just felt it. It was really strong there must have been a lot of it."

"How did you get away?"

"I didn't she just said that death wasn't good enough for me, and that she was going to take away everyone that I cared about to get her revenge. Then she just disappeared"

"It seems you pissed off the wrong granny. I will send the word out and try to find some camera footage of the attacker. But it sounds like she is going to go after the people you care the most about."

"Lois! I got to go"- click Clark hung up the phone and quickly changed into his superman costume. He raced out the window.

"CK, is that you?" asked Jimmy Olsen as he peaked his head in. He saw the window open and the bags of produce in the corner. "Must have been the wind" he said as he went over to lock to window.


	3. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the reviews. I had most of this chapter finished before I posted the prolog and the 1st chapter. I'm working on the next one but it may take me longer than this one did. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They remain the property of D.C. and or Smallville. This is just my artistic interpretation of one possible future for the characters of Smallville. **

Chapter 2

Future- 31st century

Brainiac 5 sat at his monitor in the Hall of Heroes. He looked again at the screen in shock. He tapped his communicator and said, "we have a priority one emergency. All available legion members report to the Hall of Heroes!" Within five minutes a small crowd of heroes had formed around him.

"What's going on?"

"The rouge time traveler we detected a few days ago has struck."

"How do you know?"

"When we last visited the 21st century, I had watchtower start to keep a log of every time Superman was attacked."

"Yeah... and?"

"I memorized the list, and today it changed."

"What?"

"Some old woman attacked him. In conjunction with the temporal disturbance we detected a few days ago, the only logical conclusion is that this new attacker is in fact the rouge time traveler. Whatever she is planning has not happened yet in that time line so it has not affected us yet. We need to send a group of heroes back to save Superman and this timeline! With Rokk and Saturn Girl out on a mission, Lightning Lad and Kara are the only familiar faces that we could send back."

"I am ready to go back" said Lightning Lad excitedly.

"Send me back too. I was sent to this planet to protect my cousin. I have to duty to protect Kal-El" said Kara.

The other legion heroes wanted to go as well but Brainiac said, "A large group would only increase the chance that the timeline would collapse. The best way to deal with this rouge time traveler would be to hide in the 21st century and track down this old woman. Kara knows the 21st century pretty well and Lightning Lad has been there before."

The other legionnaires nodded at and agreed with Brainiac's comments. Brainiac continued, "Very well, we will send Kara and Lightning Lad back to the 21st century to rescue Superman."

Present time

Superman was flying straight to S.T.A.R. labs when his communicator went off. "Hello"

"Clark I just finished meeting with that source. She's a midlevel researcher for LexCorp. She found some dirt on Lex and wants to go public!"

"Lois, are you ok?"

"I can't believe it. Finally, someone wants to go public with Lex's dirty laundry!"

"Lois! Stop! I need to know where you are!"

"What? I just finished with Emil. I'm going to the car in the parking lot. Not everyone can fly like Superman, Smallville"

"Don't leave yet. I will meet you there."- Click. A sudden gust of wind blew past Lois as she was standing by the driver's side of her car. She looked up and Clark was standing there is full mild-manner reporter garb on the other side of the car.

"Not that I mind seeing my husband but what couldn't wait until I get back to the Planet" said Lois as she and Clark got into the car.

As Lois started the car and pulled out of the parking spot Clark said, "I was just attacked! And somehow she knew who I was. I think she used kryptonite on me. We need to go to watchtower. She threatened the lives of my loved ones."

Lois was driving up to the exit of the parking lot but slammed on the breaks. "Let me get this straight. You were just attacked by someone using kryptonite who threatened me. And you come straight to get me. Did you think to send someone else? Maybe someone not vulnerable to Kryptonite?" said Lois very angrily.

"Lois are you alright?" Clark asked as he looked at his wife who normally doesn't ask for help form anyone.

"I'm fine! Stop asking me that!" she yelled before calming down and saying, "I'm just hungry. That informant wasn't too keen on eating and Emil didn't have anything tasty in his lab"

"Maybe we should stop to grab a bite before going to watchtower."

Then a red flash swooshed by the car and the back seat door opened and closed before either Clark or Lois could react. "Hola Amigos" said Bart as the other turned around to look at him. "Tess said you ran into some green K trouble and thought a non-meteor sensitive back up would be helpful." Bart was holding two ice cream cones and said, "Some people may disagree with me but I think it's never too early for ice cream."

"That sounds amazing" said Lois as she grabbed one of the two cones Bart was holding. "Next time you should bring some rocky-road when you stop by." said Lois before she started eating the ice cream while at the same time pressing her foot down on the gas pedal.

"Whoa I brought that for Clark. You know since he was just taken out by a granny, but I guess the whole what's mine is yours thing really is part of getting married" said Bart as Lois drove them across town to the league's watchtower base.

At the Belle Reve facility

An explosion rocked the front gate of the facility. A group of guards rushed to investigate the explosion. They called for backup and another contingent of guards went to investigate the explosion. Less than a minute later another explosion rocked the grounds of the facility. The second explosion came on the west side of the facility. Another group of guards was dispatched to investigate. Then the alarms went off.

Martian Manhunter swooped down to the site of the first explosion he scanned the debris for any trapped people. After confirming no one was trapped or in need of immediate medical treatment, he moved over to the second explosion site and scanned there as well. He flew down to help a trapped guard. Once he removed the chunk of concrete pinning the guard and paramedics arrives, he turned his attention to the blaring sirens. He flew over to the command center looking for the warden.

"Warden what happened?" he asked the franticly scrambling man before him.

"Jones! I don't know. These explosions came out of nowhere and then the system started an automatic lock down. There are fourteen patients missing from their rooms. After the second explosion there was some kind of blinding light in each of their rooms and they were just gone."

"Can you send me a copy of the surveillance and computer logs? I will get my team on this right away."

"Sure. I still don't have a full list of everyone but the fourteen that we know are missing are some of the most dangerous and unstable patients here."

"Forward what you can to this email and we will do what we can to bring them back peaceably" said John as he handed the warden a business card with a single line of text. "I will update you when I can" he said before turning to fly away.

Tapping his communicator he spoke, "Watchtower, we have another problem. There has been some kind of mass break out at Belle Reve. At least fourteen of the most dangerous and unstable meteor-infected and meta-humans were gone in a flash of light."

"The woman that attacked me disappeared in a flash of light. This may be her work as well" said Clark over the communication channel.

"The Warden should be forwarding the surveillance footage and other info as he gets it. I'm heading back to watchtower now."

"We have access to the data now, but it's not helping much. I'm going to start compiling a list of the abilities we will be facing with this group of escapees."

"Good idea" said John now standing next to Clark and Lois. "Where did Bart go?"

"Ran out for food. I suggested Chinese and he said something about Shanghai…" replied Lois.

"Incoming communication from the Batcave" said Tess.

"Arkham Asylum was just attacked. Some kind of explosion outside the main gate house then five inmates were abducted form their rooms," said Batman.

"But thanks to Bat's paranoia we have full satellite recording of the entire incident" said Nightwing on the same communication line.

"I'm uploading the files to the watchtower server. It looks like the explosion had a Kryptonite signature to it. I'm still analyzing the way the inmates were taken."

"This must be the old woman"

"So that message about Superman being taken out by an old woman earlier was not a prank?" asked Nightwing.

Ignoring the jab Clark asked, "Why would she break out nineteen villains?"

"She wants to divide us. Think about it. Clark already doesn't want to leave my side and on top of that we know this this granny has green K powers so you all want someone else to stay with me as well. That's at least two leaguers who will not be able to help track down these villains."

"Well, Cark could put on his fancy anti-K suit. That might help" interjected Nightwing.

"Yeah, but I can't live in it."

"Nor can you follow me around all the time in it. Neither of us can afford to stay locked up here until she decides to try something. We already missed that meeting with Perry."

"Ok we can't keep you here and we can't **all** follow you around. But, what about the right person? " asked Clark.

Curious Lois asked "What are you thinking?"

Clark turned to the monitor that had Star Girl "Star Girl, how would you like an internship at the Daily Planet?"

"What?" said Lois and Courtney at the same time.

"With your teleportation ability, if someone attacks, then you could teleport Lois to safety." Clark reasoned. "I mean it's either that or John Jones becomes your personal police escort." John gave Clark a look that seemed to say _what?_

This time Lois turned to Star Girl and said "Well, what do you say Courtney? Want an inside look at the world of print journalism?"

"I guess… if it's the best way to help."

"First step to being my bodyguard slash intern is to be excited about your job," responded Lois.

"You could think of this as a chance to work on your undercover skills" added Clark.

"Great…" said Star Girl after she teleported to the watchtower.


	4. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the reviews. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They remain the property of D.C. and or Smallville. This is just my artistic interpretation of one possible future for the characters of Smallville. **

Chapter 3

Somewhere in the middle of the Antarctic nineteen depraved and deranged villains were standing around a large ice cavern. Several of them had formed groups to protect themselves from the others. At the north end of the cavern there was a raised ledge, and up there stood the old woman. She looked out at the villains she had collected and nodded in approval to herself. She needed their attention so she caused an explosion fifteen feet in front of her and above their heads. They all looked up at her.

"I am the Crone" she told the crowd. "I am the one that has freed you from your cells. I have done this because you will help me with my goal."

"You say that like we have no choice" said a crocodile like man.

"Look around. You are trapped in an ice cavern. Now, either cooperate and get rewarded, or …" Then she pointed at the crocodile man and said, "_In gelu dormi._" There was a purple flash and then there was a block of ice where Crock had been standing.

"What did you do?" asked one of the others.

"He is sleeping until I free him. Now you all can join him or you can accept my offer to take out Superman."

* * *

Two weeks later.

Lois and Courtney were sitting at a table outside the corner café across from the Daily Planet.

"Have you heard any new leads on the escaped villains?" asked Courtney.

"Clark hasn't mentioned anything recently… why? You getting board of being a journalist?"

"Let's just say, I am thinking of following in John Jones' footsteps not Clark's for my secret identity when I graduate."

"Why is it that I always have to go get the coffee?" asked Jimmy as he walked up to the table with 3 cups of coffee. "Isn't that what interns are for anyway?"

"Jimmy! Interns are not slaves" said Lois.

"That's not what I heard from Jeff. He said you had him doing all your errands while you still were working in the basement.

"That was a different time Olsen, and filling your brother's shoes will take more from you than just taking pictures."

"Plus, you're so good at remembering what we like exactly Jimmy" said Courtney with a smile and a wicked grin on her face.

Jimmy started to blush and said, "Oh! I forgot my sugar" as he got up from the table.

"Wow are you sure Star Girl doesn't have the power of persuasion?" asked Lois quietly as Jimmy was walking back into the café.

"Only on some people…"

There was a commotion down the street. Lois and Courtney couldn't see anything but they heard people yelling and lots of running. They were running towards the café and away from something.

"We gotta check that out" said Lois as she got up from the table.

"Lois we should get back to the office, incase this is a trick to get you."

"We are not going to go charging in to rescue the day. I am a reporter," said Lois. Then she saw Jimmy coming out of the café. "Jimmy grab your camera! I smell a story."

"Lois!" said Courtney as she and Jimmy ran after Lois.

When they got down the street, they saw a school bus perpendicular across the street. Through the windows Lois could see the faces of several frightened children, but the most shocking site was the four children holding machineguns atop the bus. They looked like they were standing guard over the bus. Then the door opened and two more children walked out with guns. Behind them came a man dressed in a blue suit with a large top hat.

"Hello people of Metropolis! I don't think we have been properly introduced! I am the Mad Hatter! I have stolen your children, but I will return them if Superman turns himself over to me! I know you are watching so if you don't turn yourself over… well" and he snapped his fingers and the two kids with guns turned and pointed their guns at each other. "Come on Superman! 10-9-8-7-6-5-"

Swoosh came a red and blue blur. Suddenly all the children were relieved of their guns. The guns were now in a small pile about 20 feet in front of the hatter. The blur came to a stop hovering over the now smoldering lump of metal that had been the guns only a few moments before. The hatter was surprised to find a young looking woman standing before him and not the man of steel. She was blond and wore a very similar outfit to Superman.

"Who are you?" asked the Mad Hatter.

"I'm Supergirl and your time in this city is over."

"Kara" gasped Lois before she pulled her hand to her mouth almost immediately.

"What did you say?" asked Jimmy.

"Nothing. More pictures less talking!" responded Lois.

"When did Supergirl get back in town?" asked Courtney.

"This is the first I have heard of it," replied Lois.

"Well I'll just take you instead" said the Hatter as he pulled out a green glowing rock.

Supergirl responded immediately by shooting her heat vision at the rock while flying backwards. The Hatter dropped it because it was too hot for him to hold anymore. The rock exploded from the heat vision. Then a blast of lightning hit the Hatter form behind and caused him to fall to the ground. Flying in to hover above him was Lightning Lad. The now gun-less children advanced on the Hatter and Lightning Lad as the Hatter reached up to grab the new hero. Lightning Lad brought together his fists and a blast of electric energy expanded from him. The Hatter fell back down and the kids jerked for a second. Small electrical cards fell off from the kids and then they started to look around themselves like they were waking up from a bad dream.

Supergirl flew back over and picked up the kids still on top of the bus to deliver them to the police waiting at the edge of the crowd. Lightning Lad landed and pulled up the Hatter by his jacket. The police rushed to help him. They searched the Hatter for any other things up his sleeves before placing him in handcuffs. Lightning Lad said thanks to the officer before he and Supergirl flew off.

"I have a feeling that dinner is going to be interesting tonight."

"Why's that Lois?"

"Oh I have a feeling Clark will not be expecting this story," replied Lois.

* * *

Across town at the league's headquarters, Clark was going through some of the newest reports about where the kidnapped villains might be. Suddenly there was a swoosh and next to him stood a younger and slightly shorter version of Clark.

"Hey bro."

"Conner? What are you doing here?"

"I overheard you talking to mom about this impending attack on Lois. I have the weekend free and thought I would come to help."

"Did you tell mom about this?"

"No… I just figured it would be a good time for us to bond. I haven't seen you much in the last few months."

"Thanks for thinking of Lois and I Conner, but you should have checked with Mom first."

"You're right. You're not going to send me back to DC are you?"

"No. I think spending a weekend together sounds like a great idea. But, do me a favor first, go tell Mom where you will be"

"Ok" replied Conner before he sped off to tell Martha.

Clark turned back to the monitor to look through some more leads. He noticed a new result had just shown up. Then he heard another woosh.

"Wow that was pretty quick Conner"

"Who's Conner?" asked Kara

Clark turned and saw his cousin. "Kara! I'm so happy to see you! It has been so long."

Then a second whoosh followed by alarms blaring. "INTRUDER, INTRUDER" A second costumed super hero came flying in the room. Tess in her mechanical body charged at the new comer. She jumped up at him and elbowed him in the face. Clark and Kara sped over to brawling pair to pull them apart.

"Tess it's ok. This is my Cousin Kara, and… Garth? Is that you?"

"You bet Sups! It's great to see you too."

Tess calmed down and said, "I apologize, my system had no record of you and I may have over reacted. Stand down watchtower."

"Kara have you been in the future?" asked Clark.

"Yeah, Jor-El told me to seek my own path or risk endangering you if I stayed to fight Darksied. But then we detected a rouge time traveler that attacked you."

"So we came to back you up big guy" finished Garth.

"We had tried to keep a low profile until she made her move"

"It was so awesome to take out a real life twenty-first century super villain like the Mad Hatter, even if he is more one of Batman's rouges than yours. Even weirder though was that he had green K."

"Woah, Mad Hatter, Green K, What?" asked Clark.

Kara and Garth filled him in on what had just happened. "And since Hatter was one of the ones taken from Arkham we figured he is related to this whole thing."

"Batman and Nightwing are on their way from Gotham to assist in the investigation as they put it" Tess added.

"It looks like your team has grown since I was last here," said Kara.

"You could say that."

"Whoa, who made the mess?" said Conner after he whooshed back from telling Martha where he would be for the weekend.

"Who are you?" asked Kara.

"Hi I'm Conner Kent, Clark's brother" he said holding his hand out to shake her hand.

Kara took his hand but was confused. She tried to squeeze it as much as possible, and said "You have Kryptonian powers but this makes no sense."

"Oh you're Kara! Nice to meet you."

"How is this possible?"

"I'm a clone. Part Clark part Lex, but I take after my Clark side more than the other"

"Lex? Kal-El, this is not right. You need to do something. This thing should not exist!"

"Kara!" said Garth while he grabbed her shoulder.

"I'm right here! Don't talk around me" said Conner.

Clark moved between Kara and Conner and said, "Kara, It doesn't matter what should or shouldn't be we have to deal with what **is**. Conner didn't ask to be created. It wasn't his choice and he has proven himself to me. I think of him as a brother. I hope you will spend some time to get to know him before condemning him."

"I'm sorry Conner. Lex and I have a history and I jumped to the wrong conclusion."

"It's ok, I mean I live with Martha, who I tried to kill when I was less Clark than I am now. I'm sure we can find a way to move past this."

"I guess I will call Lois to say we are going to have a big family dinner. I don't think we could fit all these people in our apartment. Tess, do you mind if we have it here?"

"Oh.. sure Clark. It would be good for the team to have a get-together."

"Lane-Kent" said Lois as she answered her phone.

"Lois when you and Courtney are done for the day why don't you head over to Watchtower for a big family dinner"

"Sure, But I think we could fit Kara and her friend at our place if you wanted"

"Oh you saw her on the news…"

"Well I was kind of there. Before you get mad we get to write the story for tomorrow's edition!"

"Lois! You are supposed to stay out of these kinds of situations!"

"Clark, it's been two weeks and nothing so far. Besides, Courtney was there the whole time ready to swoop me away should someone come after me" replied Lois.

"As far as squeezing everyone in our apartment, it looks like Conner's also staying with us this weekend plus Bruce and Barb are going to be here at least for one night."

"Watchtower it is! You better come to the office so we can meet this deadline."

"Ok I'll be right there" said Clark i to the phone before hanging up. Then he said to the people around him, "I'll be back for dinner in a few hours. Tess why don't you see if any of the other leaguers want to come for dinner"

"On It."

"I promise to behave while you're out" said Conner as Clark was about to leave.

Clark flew over to the Daily Planet and helped Lois finish the story on the weird Gotham villain's attack on Metropolis. Lois and Courtney Headed over to Watchtower while Clark rand around town to get all the food for the dinner. They had ordered take out from several places mostly because Lois wanted a pretty weird combination of foods.

Lois and Courtney got to watchtower just after seven. Clark arrived a little later and superspeeded up to the kitchen, which was located on the flood below the command center. Tess had convinced Oliver and Bruce to expand the base by adding a set of guest rooms and full kitchen below the main floor. Clark got busy putting the food on the serving platters.

Courtney and Lois had ridden the elevator up to the command floor. They saw Conner setting the dining table, which had all three of its massive leaves in it. Conner had already brought up the extra chairs for the storage room. Conner also had set put a white tablecloth across the table and was just finishing the place settings. On the bar counter near the table was a large selection of drinks.

"Oh Conner this looks great" said Lois as she walked towards the table.

"Lois!" he responded.

Courtney walked over to the Bart and John Jones. Who were talking by one of the monitor stands.

The door to the balcony opened and in walked Diana Prince and Martha Kent.

"Thanks again Diana for the flight from Washington, but next time would you mind telling me that you are doing the flying not a plane before I accept?"

"Sure Martha, but I am much faster than any jet, and I thought you wanted to get here in time for diner." said Diana as she smiled and walked over to the bar to get a drink.

"Mom" yelled Conner as a saw her from the table. Conner ran over to Martha and spun her around in the air.

Lois followed Conner and gave Martha a hug but left the senator's feet on the ground.

"Conner! Between you and Diana I'm sure my hair is a mess. Hi Lois, I'm going to go freshen up before dinner."

Lois saw Kara and her friend from earlier talking to A.C. and Mera, so Lois went over to talk to them, while Conner went to hang out with Bart and Zatanna.

"Kara, it's nice to see you again. So, who's your friend?"

"Hi Lois, This is Garth, but you can call him Lighting Lad" responded Kara.

"Wow the Lois Lane! It's an honor." He said as he held out his hand to shake hers. "Does this mean you are going to write a story about me?"

"Actually, Clark and I just wrote it. I had wanted to go with Electric Lord, but he made me go with Lightning Lad. I guess, now I know why." Lois responded with a smile.

"Sometimes I wish I had a regular job" added A.C.

"Oh the problems of being an underwater king!" said Mera as she punched A.C.'s arm.

"Whatever!" responded A.C. while grinning from ear to ear. "I think I need another drink. Would you like something my Queen?" has said as he bowed before his wife.

"No, I'm fine with my water" said Mera and Garth walked over to the balcony to look out at the skyline to give Lois and her cousin-in-law some time to catch up.

The elevator door opened and Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon walked in. Tess walked up to them and asking about their interrogation of Jarvis Tech. Barbara handed Tess a flash drive and pulled Bruce away from the conversation. Tess went to go upload the information. Bruce and Barbara walked over to Lois and Kara.

"Supergirl I presume" said Bruce as the dynamic duo joined Kara and Lois.

"Oh where are my manners. Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon, this is Kara-El, Clark's cousin." said Lois.

"It's nice to meet you Batman, Nightwing. The rumors about Mr. Wayne's charm were not exaggerated" said Kara as she held out her hand.

Bruce extended his hand to meet Kara's and said, "Are you the cousin from Minnesota or Krypton?"

"I see the rumors about your detective skills are also true. Although I don't think I have ever set foot in Minnesota, I'm pretty sure I flew over it a few times."

"I have only been there a few times on business but from what I saw you weren't missing much." said Bruce.

"Any place without homicidal clowns or insane Lewis Carol characters just doesn't have much going for it does it?" said Barbara.

The others stared at her for a minute before Lois grabbed her hand and said, "Barbara there is someone I think you should meet" as she pulled the girl towards the balcony.

"Lois stop trying to set me up with people I have nothing in common with! Didn't you learn anything after the Bart disaster?"

"This is different. Garth here shoots lightning and you have those batons that shock people. That's similar isn't it? Plus he's from the future so… well here he is. Mera could I borrow you for a minute?"

"Sure" replied Mera with a smile as they walked towards the bar where Diana and A.C. were discussing something.

Martha had returned from the bathroom and joined Kara and Mr. Wayne.

"Ah, Senator Kent. It is lovely to see you again."

"Mr. Wayne, I hope you have been entertaining my niece."

"Actually Aunt Martha, Mr. Wayne has been quite charming" said with a smile as she unconsciously pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Maybe I should give you two some more time to get to know each other."

"Oh! Actually I need to go ask Emil something before dinner, but later Bruce you have to tell me that story about Clark being turned into a bunny."

"I want to hear about that too perhaps later at the table."

"I promise. Now Senator if I could get your professional opinion on something before diner."

"I'll try…"

There was a blur around the dinner table as Clark was putting all the food on the tabletop. "All right everyone, dinner is served!"

The people started to make their way towards the table to claim their spot. Just as everyone got close to the table Clark said, "Dig in everyone and make sure you thank Lois for her cooking!" With that everyone around the table froze, even Bart.

Conner started laughing and said, "That means they ordered out! It was an inside joke."

Lois was glaring at Clark, who sat there smiling back at her trying to mouth the words I love you.

Once the plates were passed, everyone settled back into their seats. The large family that was the Justice League all sat around to enjoy this great dinner. Tess joined them as well even though she didn't eat anything. After everyone had finished their meals, Bart took the empty plates downstairs and cleaned them in less than a minute.

Kara stood up holding two nicely wrapped presents. She handed one to Clark and the other to Lois. Then she said, "I know I missed your wedding but I wanted to give your wedding presents. Lois, please open yours first."

Lois didn't have to be told twice and she tore through the wrapping. She discovered a necklace jewelry box. She opened it and gasped. There was a beautiful silver pendant necklace. It had several Kryptonian symbols scrolled on its sides and the front was a beautiful house of El symbol. She turned it around so Clark and everyone else could see it. "It's beautiful Kara."

"I had it made in the future. It's an exact replica of one Aunt Lara used to wear to formal events. I think Jor-El gave it to her for one of their anniversaries. It's said to bring good fortune and help to bring about your destiny."

"Thank you Kara, I love it."

Clark started to open his and saw his father's ring. He pushed it away from himself.

"It's ok Clark, it's also a replica and there is no Blue K. I know Jor-El would want you to have it so I had another one made for you. I also included a Kryptonian style chain that you can wear it around your neck instead of as a ring if you want."

"Thank you Kara."

"Well if you don't go back to the future tomorrow I will have a thank you card for our wedding presents"

"Don't hold your breath, we are still waiting on ours" said A.C. There was some kind of commotion under the table and he turned to look at his wife. Mera put on a large smiled and said, "Orin must be confused…" With that most of the league continued to sit around and enjoy the evening.

* * *

Author's notes

Thank you again for reading and please review! This was a rather large chapter that almost doubled the length of this story so far. I know everyone wants to know more about who the old woman is and about Lois's condition. It's coming I promise. I have a paper for school due Friday so I probably will not post the next chapter until next week.


	5. Chapter 4

**Thanks everyone for the reviews and support. This is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction and posting it. I'm sorry this took so long to update, but school started up again and I got busy. This is also my first major attempt at writing action in this chapter so if you have any thoughts I would love to hear them. The next chapter should be the last for this story but I am working on some more stories to follow this one if people like it.**

**When I was planning this story I was planning to bring in some of the old meteor freaks and villains that Clark had fought over the years in **_**smallville**_**. But then I realized that there weren't really many left alive or available. I had to come up with almost 20 antagonists here, so I used characters from the comics and some from the Young Justice TV show. Some of them still are from **_**Smallville**_** and some are in the new season 11 comic. **

**Enjoy and please review.**

Chapter 4

Tess, Emil, and Bruce had all snuck off to the upstairs. They were talking about the info that Batman had recovered from Jarvis Tech. Bruce looked up from the tablet they were all huddled around as he heard Kara approach. She had just superspeeded up there after telling Clark she had to use the bathroom.

"Can I help you?" asked Bruce.

"Actually this is more about what I can do for you"

"What do you mean?"

"By now you must have isolated the specific magical signature being used by this old woman, but there is one other piece of information you will need if we are going to find her base. Her temporal flux value will affect our ability to track her magical frequency. I have it with me and we should be able to use it to track down her base."

"Her temporal what?"

"Here, may I?" Kara asked as she reached for the tablet. "Whenever someone attempts to change the past they create a temporal flux. It can affect other frequencies that would normally be able to be tracked. That's why the program you and Zatanna created a few years ago to track Wotan hasn't been working right?"

"How did you know that?"

"I have been in the future for a while. I picked up a few things." She said as she continued to type in a rather complicated formula to augment Bruce's magical tracking algorithm. "There! Well that's odd, it looks like she is holding up in the Antarctic. There were no manmade structures there when the satellite took his image, but I would bet you there is something there now."

"It looks like we are going to the Antacrtic, now we need to decide whether to tell Clark or not"

"Of course we do. We take this to the League" said Tess.

The four of them walked back downstairs with the tablet in hand. They walked to the main desk and turned towards the table mostly still full of people. Tess called Oliver and Chloe in Star City to have them get on the sat-com for this meeting. Chloe and Oliver were together on the screen looking rather tired like most parents of small children.

"We have a lead and we need to make a decision" announced Bruce. Everyone came over to the watch the main screen.

Before Bruce could continue though, Zatanna walked into the room. "Sorry I missed dinner but I brought desert" she said holding a large pink bakery box. They all turned around, but no one went to get any sweets, not even the desert loving Martian or the always hungry Impulse. "I promise there are no spells on these donuts and pastries" said the magician as she kept walking towards the group.

With the assurance that nothing would cause them unforeseen consequences, several people walked up to have some desert. Lois almost even beat Bart to the box hoping there was a maple donut in there.

"Anyway, Barbara and I were able to deduce how the old woman is transporting. Jarvis Tech a.k.a. the Mad Hatter was teleported to metropolis this morning using magic. We were able to trace a unique signature of the magic being used. A magical fingerprint if you will that is specific to the caster. Zatanna and I had created a tracking program a few years ago, and with Kara's help we were able locate the base where this woman is operating." The large screen now showed a rather empty looking image of somewhere in the Antarctic.

"Um, that doesn't look like much Bats" said Bart.

"That's because this image is over a month old. This location is in the Antarctic. Neither I, nor Oliver have much satellite coverage of this area because there usually aren't that many people there. I have retasked our nearest satellite, but it will still take us a few hours to get intel. At this time of year the South Pole has no nighttime. But we need to plan our actions. This would not be a time to rush in."

"I agree" said Clark

"We think the Mad Hatter was an invitation. Whatever she has waiting for us is ready now and we need to be prepared."

"What are you proposing?" asked John

"The threat she made to Clark was to harm his loved ones, but taking everyone with us to the Antarctic also doesn't seem to be the safest bet. We should divide into two teams. One to go and capture this woman, and the other to stay here and protect Martha and Lois."

"Clark needs to go after the old woman" said Lois.

"What?" said Clark and about half the team.

"You're not going to want to sit back and wait here while the rest of the league goes after this woman. Whatever she has waiting in the Antarctic will not be easily beaten. Your suit that protects you from Krytonite will help, and your abilities are better used in an open space. Besides, last time I checked, you were in charge of this team!"

"I agree," said Kara.

"I think I can cast an inhibitor spell that would prevent her from teleporting. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I can try" offered Zatanna.

"I think the majority of our team should be deployed to the Artic." added Bruce.

"Even though this is likely a trap we have a chance of containing these villains there and not have to fight in a rather small space" said Diana as she motioned to the room around her.

"I'll volunteer to stay here, my circuits are less than optimal in the extreme cold" said Victor.

"Conner, I know you want to help but having you here to help protect Lois would make me feel a lot better" said Clark.

"Ok" he said with his head a little lower than before.

"Even on snow and ice, Mera and my abilities would be helpful in the Antarctic" said A.C.

"Agreed, John I know you are fine in the cold, but would you mind staying here to protect Lois and my mother? A super powered person not vulnerable to Kryptonite would make me feel better" asked Clark.

"It would be my pleasure Kal-El"

"I can also stay" volunteered Dinah.

"With me here as well we should be good for the home team" said Tess

"Me and Speedy can take the jet over in the morning before we all head to the Antarctic" said Oliver.

"Kara and I came back to deal with this woman so we would be happy to join the Antarctic team" said Lightning Lad.

"I wish we had an extra suit to protect you from the Kryptonite" said Bruce.

"That's alright I have learned ways to deal with Kryptonite" replied Kara.

"So that puts me, Nightwing, Wonderwoman, Superman, Supergirl, Lightning Lad, Impulse, Green Arrow, Speedy, Aquaman, Mera, Star Girl, and Zatanna going to the Artic." said Bruce. "I'm passing out a collection of files on the abducted inmates and their abilities. You may have dealt with them before or you may be unfamiliar, but it would be good to know what we might be up against. Everybody get some sleep. We will meet again at 08 hundred."

* * *

Antarctic. A little after 10am CST (Metropolis local time)

Superman stood looking across a broad ice plain. He was wearing the lead-lined suit that Batman had made for him years ago. The rest of his team was behind him. He saw a large structure that looked like it was carved out of ice. He noticed how it looked almost as large as his fortress in the arctic, but this was different it was more domelike and not angular. It looked like a large half of a dome.

Batman came up beside Superman and was looking through binoculars. His normal black suit was replaced with a white one. He had also replaced the black face paint with a full facemask. "Several of their heavy hitters are standing at the entrance of the structure."

"I count 10 including the old lady. She is standing on some kind of stage and seems to be meditating or chanting."

Zatanna walked up on the other side of the Superman and said "I need to be a 100 feet closer to cast the inhibitor spell over the area. I'm sure once I cast it the old woman will come after me."

"I will stay by your side to help protect you Zatanna" said Mera as she and A.C. joined the others. "I have some experience with magic and the ice will give me ample power here"

"Good" said Batman as he turned around to face the rest of the group. "The old woman will come after Mera and Zatanna. Supergirl would you go after the Atomic Skull? A.C. and Lightning Lad can you two handle Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold? Your powers over water and electricity should favor your to end that fight quickly. Impulse you will take on Captain Boomerang and Arrow will take on Dark Archer. Speedy I need you to provide cover for Wonderwoman, Stargirl and Nightwing who will be taking on Mammoth and Livewire. Lastly Superman and I will take on the Terror twins, hopefully quickly. The quicker you take out your assigned target the quicker you can move on to help the others."

"Agreed" said Superman as the others nodded.

"Alright everyone knows your target and your partners. Lets move out!"

Superman flanked by Supergirl and Wonderwoman flew out ahead of the rest of the group. Batman and Nightwing disappeared into the snowscape. Zatanna and Mera moved forward about a hundred feet before stopping. The others continued their advance on the Crone's ice fort.

Zatanna drew a circle around herself in the snow. Mera stood in front of her and started to wave her hands around. In a semicircle about 10 feet from Mera six small pools started to form. The ice and snow seemed to instantly melt. Mera flipped her hands towards the sky with her palms up. She then trusted her hands upwards towards the sky and the pools turned into pillars of water about 3 feet high.

Zatanna had finished her circle and had pulled out a small round orb that glowed green one second and then gold the next. It was constantly shifting between these two colors but never seemed to settle. She raised her wand to orb and then flicked her wrist towards the fort. The orb had disappeared from her hand. High above the plain flashed a new dome with the same colors as the orb. It spread down to meet the ground. All the villains and all the heroes were within the dome.

The Cone's eyes opened at the moment the ground and the new barrier came into contact. She lowered her head and looked straight at Zatanna. She waived her hand and the other villains charged towards the advancing heroes. She started walking straight towards Zatanna.

The Atomic Skull raised a hand and shot a blast of energy towards the running Green Arrow. The beam rushed towards the archer, but Supergirl swopped in and punched the blast. Green Arrow spun around and shot an arrow into the sky before continuing on his path to get a better shot at the Dark Archer. Atomic Skull tried to follow the path of the arrow with his eyes but lost sight of it in the sun's glare. The arrow flew up high before coming back down. It landed right behind the skull at his feet. The arrow exploded into a sticky compound that seemed to harden instantly. The compound covered the villain's feet and made him loose his balance as he tried to take a step. The skull looked down and tried to irradiate the compound. It started to crumble but before he could do anymore he felt a powerful punch hit him in the stomach.

He flew back a few feet and looked up to see Supergirl flying at him again. She landed another punch and then jumped up. She raised both her hands above her head and interlaced her fingers. She then brought her hands down on the skull's head. The skull crumpled as he lost consciousness. Supergirl looked up just in time to see the green flash of an explosion not even a foot in front of her. The explosion was a very powerful and it sent Supergirl flying back across the snow.

Impulse rushed towards his target. Captain Boomerang saw Impulse coming and threw two electrified boomerangs towards the red blur. Impulse dodged the boomerangs but lost his footing on the slick surface. He skidded right past Boomerang and kept on skidding for almost 50 feet. Boomerang pulled out an explosive boomerang and threw it after Impulse. The boomerang was flying towards Impulse but it exploded when an arrow hit it.

Captain Boomerang turned and saw Speedy, the young female apprentice of Green Arrow, using a hill as cover to shoot at several of the other villains, who were engaged with other heroes. He grabbed another two explosive boomerangs and threw them at the young woman.

Speedy noticed the movement of the boomerangs heading towards her. She shoots the arrow she already has notched, but realizes she couldn't draw another in time. Her arrow hits the first boomerang and she tried to roll out of the way of the other one. The boomerang glides past her and starts to turn around to comeback towards her when it is hit by another arrow. She hears in her ear, "Don't forget to use your crossbows when you need a fast reload."

"Thanks Ollie" she muttered back as she rolls forward again dropping her bow and drawing her crossbow. She leveled it at Captain Boomerang and shot several shock bolts from her crossbow towards Captain Boomerang. Boomerang threw more boomerangs that collided with the bolts, but suddenly Impulse appeared next to Boomerang. Impulse tapped the captain on the shoulder. Surprised by the tap, Boomerang started to turn but Impulse had already sped around and lined up a punch to knock out Captain Boomerang. Impulse said, "lights out captain!" Once Boomerang was out, Impulse gave Speedy a thumbs-up. Speedy turned her attention back to shooting cover fire for Wonderwoman and Stargirl.

Tommy Terror and his sister Tuppence "Tuppy" Terror were also known as the Terror twins. They were a brother and sister team from the American South that possessed super-strength like Superman, but were mostly untrained. They relied on their sheer strength to handle local cops, but they had never faced Superman or Batman. They had faced Superboy last summer when they tried to rob the Smallville Savings and Loan. Superboy had defeated them and the authorities locked up the twins in Belle Reve.

Superman charged ahead to engage the twins, and Batman was running closely behind him. The twins saw the man of steel coming towards them so they tried to punch him at the same time. Superman decided to meet their punches head on. The air rippled outwards as Superman's fists met the twins' fists. The twins flew backwards. Batman flipped over the other superhero and threw exploding batarangs at the twins. When they exploded the twins were barely fazed. Batman saw this and decided to throw several smoke bombs to limit the twins' vision. The smoke grew and the twins easily lost their sense of direction. Superman used his x-ray vision and caught Tommy unaware. Superman knocked Tommy out with a clean hit, and looked for Batman and Tuppy.

Despite no superpower to see through the smoke Batman's intensive training and habit of operating often without the aid of vision allowed him to quickly locate the super-powered girl. The capped crusader used his knowledge of pressure points to strike Tuppy in her week spots. He jabbed her on her side and jumped back before she could make contact with him. Then he moved in again to attack her other side before jumping back into the smoke. Her body slowed after the blows Batman had delivered. The dark knight flipped up and used his weight to deliver a powerful blow with his elbow. Tuppy collapsed from the blow.

Dark Archer shot arrow after arrow towards his former pupil. Green Arrow dodged several of the shots and shot several of the others with his own bolts. He had lost a little ground when he had spared arrows to protect Impulse and Speedy. Dark Archer moved behind a small mound of ice and snow.

Green Arrow tried to move to a position where he could gain a better shot. A flash of light to his left drew his attention. He saw the blast of electricity but it was too late for him to dodge. The blast knocked him over and caused him to pass out.

Dark Archer saw this and looked around to see who he should attack next. He decided to take out the young archer that Oliver had tried to protect earlier. He turned towards the young woman and released the arrow he had notched. The arrow snapped in half in the air as a red blur rushed towards the Dark Archer. Impulse came to a stop. He had just pulled his arm back to punch the Dark Archer when a greenish explosion happened between them. The explosion knocked out both Impulse and Dark Archer.

Captain Cold and Mr. Freeze were back to back shooting their freezing weapons at the two heroes that were attacking them. Lightning Lad tried shooting blasts of lightning at Cold. Cold used his freezing gun to create a wall of ice to protect himself. Lightning Lad increased the power of the blast and broke the ice wall. Aquaman charged at Mr. Freeze, but Freeze shot his ice gun at the sea lord. The blast hit Aquaman in the arm but the ice liquefied and seemed to reinvigorate the Atlantean.

Mr. Freeze saw what Lightning Lad was doing and had an idea. Cold nodded his understanding to Freeze. Cold created another wall of ice in front of him but also created a channel of ice towards Aquaman. Freeze used his gun to extend the channel into the charging Aquaman. Lightning Lad was shooting electricity into the ice, but the charge continued all along the channel through the liquefying water and into Aquaman. As soon as Lightning Lad realized what was happening he stopped the blast but Aquaman was already unconscious. Lightning Lad brought both his hands together shoot out a blast of electricity. The freezing guns started to spark and the villains dropped them. Suddenly there was a blast of green energy and all three combatants were knocked out.

Superman and Batman were going after Livewire who had been jumping around the battlefield. She already took out Green Arrow with a blast and she had just subdued the other Archer Speedy. Batman threw some smoke bombs but the electric villain shot up and out of the cloud. She let out a couple blasts of energy where she thought Batman was hiding but Superman jumped in between to take the blast. Livewire flashed around and shot a blast that caught Batman in the arm. The three continued to try to get the upper hand.

Wonderwoman skidded to a halt as she recovered from the hit she just took from Mammoth. She looked up to see Stargirl and Nightwing trying to fight Mammoth. The electric blasts from Nightwing's batons seemed to be having some effect, but the fight was not going their way. Wonderwoman knew she needed to do something different or it would only be a matter of time. "Try to hold him off I have a plan." she said through her communicator to the other women fighting the beast.

Wonderwoman jumped up and came down where Superman and Batman were fighting Livewire. She grabbed livewire's attention by charging at the woman. The other heroes realized what she saw doing so they backed off. Superman turned to help take on Mammoth and try to get him into the right position. Wonderwoman got a sense of Livewire's tactics and continued her attack. Livewire dodged Wonderwoman's fists and released a huge blast towards the Amazon. Wonderwoman saw the blast coming and instantly dropped to the ground. The blast continued on its path and Superman moved out of its way. The blast hit Mammoth square in the chest. He gave out a loud grunt and fell to the ground. Batman had used the distraction to get behind Livewire and threw several freezing pellets into her back. The pellets caused her to lose control of her powers and she passed out.

The heroes looked over to where Zatanna and Mera were fighting the Crone. Mera was controlling the water all around her. Blasts of water were flying towards the old woman and another shield of waterwas hovering between the older woman and the two heroes. The old woman was surprisingly agile as she navigated the water blasts. She was waving her hands and small explosions were also happening. The explosions would hit the wall of water and evaporate the shield. But more water rushed in to fill in the shield.

"dnuob ni nori!" exclaimed Zatanna. The water shield parted to allow the iron chains to fly towards the Old Woman.

"Ferrum cade!" yelled back the Crone and pointed towards the rapidly approaching chains. The chains glowed purple and fell to the ground.

"Omnia aqua in vaporem verte!" Suddenly all the water of the wall turned into vapor.

"Reh gag!" yelled Zatanna. A cloth gag appeared in the Crone's mouth.

The Crone brought her hands forward and several explosions went off. One blasted Mera off to the left and another knocked Zatanna out of her spell circle. Another broke the circle dawn on the ground.

Superman and Wonderwoman flew over to where the Crone was standing. But she disappeared in flash of light.

The Crone was now standing atop the hill. She reached up and removed the gag. Suddenly there was another flash next to the woman and Stargirl was pointing her staff towards the old woman. The old woman snapped her fingers and another explosion went off. The staff went flying and Stargirl fell over.

"ENOUGH!" the Crone yelled, and another series of explosions went off. The heroes were scattered and some were still conscious. The Crone then teleported Superman out of his suit and put him right in front of her. She also teleported Supergirl to be right in front of her. Then the old woman started to glow green. Superman and Supergirl let out cries from the pain.

"I am glad you came back from the future Kara. Now I can kill one more person to make Clark suffer for everything he put me through!" She yelled before the three of them disappeared in a green and purple flash.

* * *

Watchtower. A little after 10am CST (Metropolis local time)

Lois was sitting in the large chair next to the couch, where Martha and Conner were sitting. The two women were talking about some new bill before the Senate, and Conner was fidgeting with this phone. He kept looking up at Tess and Victor at the computer screens, looking like he wanted to be where the action was happening. Dinah was leaning against the wall next to the window sharpening her knives. John Jones was reading a book and eating Oreos at the desk.

"Our satellites are showing that our team has engaged the enemy in the Antarctic. But I am only seeing 10 heat signatures that are not ours. Where are the other 9?" said Tess as she was looking at her computer screen.

Then an alarm started going on and Victor's screen started flashing next to Tess.

"We just detected another magical surge" said Victor.

"Where?" asked Tess

Suddenly, the blast doors closed around the large window and the front door.

Conner stood up in a flash and asked, "What are we going to do?" as several fists were banging against the blast doors at the entrance.

"We need to get Lois and Martha out of here" said Victor.

"I don't think running is the best answer" replied Dinah.

"I must agree with Canary. Conner and I can't get you all out of here, and there's no guarantee that we can get to somewhere safe."

"So we fight" said Tess as she pulled out two tranquilizing handguns from the cabinet. She threw one to Lois and one to Martha. Lois and Martha flipped the coffee table on its side and crouched behind it with their guns. Victor, John and Conner stood in a ring in front of blast door that was bending inward. Further back on each side behind the columns stood Tess holding another handgun and Dinah with one of her daggers drawn. Martha and Lois were still crouched behind the coffee table on the right side of the room.

The fists stopped and then the metal started to glow red.

"They're trying to melt the door!" exclaimed Conner.

John took a couple of steps back. "One of you will have to take out whatever hot head this is" he said as he floated up towards the ceiling and turned invisible.

The metal of the blast shield started to bubble and drip down towards the floor. A tiny opening had formed at the top of the door. All along the outside, where the metal met the wall, the metal was melting. Then it stopped. Then two more indentions were made in the shield by rather strong hands. The shield was then lifted up and tossed into the room like a disk. It would have gone spinning out the window if that shield hadn't been up as well.

Two monstrous looking beasts stood snorting in the opening. One Lois recognized as the female behemoth Rampage that Superman had put away a couple of years ago. The other looked like some kind of crocodile man.

A man dressed like some kind of bug walked in after them and said, "We are supposed to ask for you to surrender but that doesn't sound like fun" said Firefly as he raised his arm towards Victor.

Victor charged Killer Crock and then tried to tackle him, and Conner tried the same with Rampage. Victor was able to take the legs out from under Crock. He pulled back to give crock a punch to the face but received a blast from Firefly's wrist beam. The blast knocked him a good 10 feet. Black Canary threw a knife at Firefly before side flipping towards the middle of the room. Firefly saw it and dodged away from the knife and the brawling Rampage and Conner. The knife flew past him and through the doorway. It stuck into the body of the next villain to come into the room.

Lois recognized John Corben aka Metallo as he entered the room. The knife sticking out of his shoulder but he was completely unphased. Canary used her canary cry and aimed it at Firefly. He fell over towards as his suit started to crumble and fall apart from her sonic blast. Victor had now gotten back up on to his feet and so had Crock. Victory charged again. This time Crock did not let Victor get under him. Crock tried to throw a punch at the charging cyborg, but Victor twisted around the punch to deliver an uppercut. Crock flew back towards the wall and crumpled to the floor.

Metallo started walking towards Rampage and Conner so that his kryptonite heart would start to affect the young Superboy. He got about one step in before the Martian Manhunter appeared before him and pulled out the Kryptonite heart. Metallo crumpled over to reveal a red skinned woman with back hair. She was holding a fireball that she sent straight at the Martian. The Martian Manhunter lifted up the Kryptonite heart to block the approaching fireball. Then he threw it at her before phasing through the floor.

Victor ran towards the fire woman. She raised her hand and a blast of fire flew towards him. The blast hit him square in the chest. He flew backwards. Canary threw another knife towards the woman but she melted it before it hit her. Tess peered around from her hiding place and fired her gun. The tranq dart hit its mark and the firewoman passed out.

Conner and Rampage continued to brawl. Through the opening walked two scantily clad women one with rather large claws and one with several whips. John tried to get a drop on them, but they were fast. He had just phased back into solid form and Harriet raked her claws through his stomach. He groaned and fell backwards with his hands clutching his wounds.

"Come on out and play Tess! Granny sends her love." called the girl with whips.

Tess side stepped and fired several shots at the two women. Harriet ducked and spun to the left. Lashina spun to the right and flicked her whip towards Tess. The whip wrapped around Tess's gun and pulled it from her hand. Lashina pulled her other arm back to launch her other whip towards Tess. Canary stepped on the whip before Lashina could follow through. Canary opened her mouth and let out a canary cry that knocked Lashina back against the wall.

Conner finally caught Rampage off guard and He lifted her up and slammed her onto the ground. Conner threw her against the wall and looked up.

Canary tried to rush towards Tess and Harriet fighting hand to hand, but Canary was hit in the back by a fire blast. She turned as she fell and saw a young looking man crouching near the fire-woman's unconscious body.

Conner reached Harriet and landed a solid punch to Harriet's side. Tess saw Canary fall and rushed towards the new comer. She recognized him as the parasite she had used years ago in her failed attempt to kill Doomsday. She raised her arm up and tried to bring it down on him. He twisted to the side but Tess saw this move coming. The pulled out a syringe she had been carrying for two weeks. She shoved it into parasite's thigh and pressed the plunger.

"Ahhh" he yelled as his. He tried to shoot her with fire but nothing happened. The look of confusion came over his face. He looked up at Tess as she brought her fist down onto his face. She turned to see Conner fall to the ground clutching his sides. Metallo's kryptonite heart was being held next to him by some kind of plant. That is when she realized there was another person present. She turned to see Poison Ivy walking into the room. What Tess didn't see was Rampage standing back up behind her. Rampage grabbed Tess's legs and swung her around. After slamming her into the wall, Rampage grabbed her again by the ankles. She pulled on Tess's android legs until they came off.

Ivy and Rampage surveyed the area. Lois stood up and shot at Rampage. Several of the tranquilizing darts hit their mark. Martha peaked around the corner of the table and sot at the weird looking plant lady. Rampage crumpled to the floor. Ivy twisted to the left and raised her bark shield. The darts embedded themselves harmlessly in the bark.

Lois turned to aim at Ivy but something caught her eye in the other direction at the edge of her vision. A plant stalk had appeared out of nowhere. At the top was some kind of pod that was getting bigger and bigger. The pod exploded outwards and a cloud of spores drifted to Lois. A similar pod had just exploded next to Martha as well. Lois tried to turn back to shoot but her vision started to blur and she collapsed. Martha also fell to the floor.

There was a bright flash behind Ivy. Ivy turned around and saw the Crone standing behind her.

"You sure took your time" said Ivy.

"And you all almost blew this" replied the Crone as she walked through the room. She waived her hand and all the unconscious villains and Poison Ivy disappeared in flashes of light.

Tess used her one functioning arm to turn herself towards the Crone.

"Oh hello, Tess. You're looking more bionic than the last time I saw you"

"Who are you?"

"Oh that would be too easy." Replied the Crone as she walked towards the computer terminal nearest her. She proceeded to pull out a flash drive and inserted it into the USB-port along the side of the monitor. The drive flashed and the screen flickered several times before turning blank.

"I don't want you all finding me before I have done what I came to do." she said again with another wave of her hand. Several flashes enveloped Lois, Martha and Conner.

"Goodbye Ms. Luthor" said the Crone as she herself disappeared in a final purplish flash.

To be continued

The league has been defeated and all the Kents have been captured. Will the Crone be able to pull off her plan to hurt Clark? Why does she want revenge and who is she? This will all be revealed next in the conclusion.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

There were several flashes of light and then darkness. The room was almost completely dark except for the green glow emanating from the old woman. She was sitting in a chair next to a console. She flicked a switch and the room's lights came on.

There were four cells in a row in front of the Crone. Inside the first cell was Lois and Martha, while inside the second was Clark. The third had Conner and the forth had Kara. The Crone pulled the lever on the console and the bars of the cells started to glow green from the liquefied Kryptonite being pumped into them. At the same time the glow from the old woman disappeared completely. She turned down the amount of Kryptonite being pumped into the cells to a level that would only cause discomfort.

"Surgete excitateque!" she said holing out her hands. The prisoners were lifted up onto their feet and were awakened by the spell. Clark, Kara, and Conner all looked uncomfortable but not in pain.

"Clark! Are you alright?" asked Lois as she noticed her husband before seeing the others.

"I think so except for this Kryptonite cell. Is everyone else ok?"

"Yeah" said Kara and Conner.

"I'm alright" added Martha.

"Ok lady just who are you? Why are you doing this?"

"I somehow knew you would be the first to talk Lois" replied the Crone.

"Do whatever you want to me, just please let them go" pleaded Clark.

"You really don't recognize me, none of you?" asked the Crone. "I know my looks haven't been the same in the last few centuries but come on… Nope? None of you recognize the Pink Princess?"

"Lana!?" asked Lois and Clark simultaneously.

Seeming to ignore Lois, Lana spoke directly to Clark. "Yes Clark it's me… This is what I turn into all thanks to you. This is all your fault, Clark. I would never have put this suit on had you been willing have a relationship with me"

"What? Lana I never cared whether you had powers"

"Sure, but you wouldn't have sex with me without them. What kind of relationship could we have without that?"

"You're telling me, you did all this because you missed Clark Jr?" asked Lois.

"Lois!" exclaimed Clark. Even in the green light Clark's cheeks were flushed.

"Wow, I always thought you were brash, but NO, this for so much more! I didn't give up on us, you did that Clark! You did!"

"Lana you were the one that left not me."

"Yes! But I couldn't risk being close to you and killing you. There was no guarantee I could fix this, but I left to try. I just didn't think you would move on so quickly."

"Princess it wasn't the next day that Clark and I got together!" yelled Lois.

"Lois, perhaps you should not antagonize the woman that has us in cells" said Martha as she put a hand on Lois's arm.

"Listen to Martha, Lois" said Lana before she turned back to face Clark and continued "When I left I went on a quest to fix the suit. I met this shaman in Africa that told me that the answers I sought were in my past. He showed me how to relive memories. When I started to search for my answers I realized they were in my past life not my own" said Lana as she moved closer to Clark.

"Isobel Thoreaux" said Clark.

"Yes. The countess was the key. Her power over magic held the answers I needed. I learned that great magic takes talent and knowledge. I had the natural talent, but needed to learn from Isobel the knowledge. Dr. Groll was right that technology alone could not help me, but Isobel's magical knowledge gave me the power to fix our Kryptonite problem. Finally able to see you again I came back to Metropolis to find you. I had been out of touch, but I wasn't expecting to find you gone on your honeymoon."

"Lana, I'm sorry you found out that way, but…"

"Clark this isn't about you choosing Lois over me. I saw a picture that one of your coworkers was looking at from your wedding. You never looked at me like that, at least not whenever we were together" said Lana as she reached through the bars to touch Clark's face.

"Then what is this about?" asked Clark as he took a step back out of Lana's reach.

"Oh that's coming. So I went back to Europe, to Paris and I moved on. I met a wonderful man. We had a wonderful life, amazing kids, and grandkids. But then the pain came. You see there was an unintended sideffect of this suit. I don't think Groll even knew about it. The suit slowed my aging but it also kept me from dying. As time passed I saw everyone I loved die. It gets really hard to explain to someone that you're their great-great-great-great-grandmother, especially knowing that you are going to outlive them just like everyone else that you have ever loved."

"But what does that have to do with us?" asked Conner.

"As my family died you were still there…" said Lana as she glared at the young man. "You became a constant reminder of all the loss that I suffered. I wanted to hurt you the way I had been hurt. I knew the only way to hurt you was hurt those you loved the most. Your mother, your wife, your cousin, your brother they are all just a means to an end"

"Lana, don't do this. I saw you stop those villains before they hurt anyone seriously in the Antarctic. Please, think about this." pleaded Clark.

"This is the only way" she said as she pulled out a green Kryptonite dagger from its lead sheath.

"Enough! This isn't because you want to hurt Clark. You are trying to break him. All because you're hoping he kills you" declared Kara.

"You want to be the first to die by this blade Kara?" asked Lana, holding the blade menacingly, as she took a step towards the blond Kryptonian.

"No, in fact I think this whole incident is over" said Kara. Quicker than should be possible for a Kryptonian exposed to Kryptonite, Kara rushed forward breaking through the bars of her cell and punching Lana. Lana was caught off guard and the punch caused her to lose focus. Kara punched Lana again and Lana lost consciousness.

Kara then pulled out an amber colored crystal from behind her back. Kara broke the crystal and her image seemed to flicker. Suddenly standing in front of the others was Diana. Quickly she pulled out her lasso of truth and tied up Lana before the sorceress could regain consciousness.

"Diana!" explained the others.

Diana reached over and turned off the Kryptonite cells. She proceeded to break open the doors to the cells to let everyone out.

"Your cousin is quite the strategist Clark" said Diana as she helped Superman out of his cell and held up a remote tracking device she had under her bracelet. Lois rushed over to Clark and embraced him. Martha similarly did the same to Conner.

Just then the eastern wall of the room started to bend as the real Supergirl pulled it open. Standing behind her was the rest of the Justice League that were not too badly injured. Batman still in his white snowsuit was standing there with one arm in a sling. Dr. Hamilton was also with the group holding a medical bag in case anyone needed his help.

"How long have you all been here?" asked Lois as she emerged into the sunlight in the warehouse district of Metropolis.

"Only a few minutes, but we had to wait until Wonderwoman made her move. The old woman lined the place in lead so even I couldn't see in" said Kara. Lightning Lad walked in past the others holding a set of handcuffs from the future that will inhibit Lana's powers. Once he had secured them Diana released the lasso.

"Are you alright Lois? "asked Emil.

"I think so. Check on Martha" replied Lois.

"So who is she?" asked Kara.

"Lana if you can believe it" said Lois.

"What? Oh, wow Lana?"

As Lightning Lad moved Lana out, she said, "You may have protected these people, but a half Kryptinian child couldn't survive exposure to that much Kryptonie."

"What child?" yelled Clark and Lois. Garth reacted immediately and released a low level shock to stun Lana.

Supergirl appeared between Lana and the Kens and said "It's ok I promise." Turning she said "Garth please go ahead and take her. And if you wouldn't mind, would you give this to Rokk" handing him a letter.

"Sure, you know where we are if you need us" said Garth with a wink. Kara stepped back. Then Garth said to the others "I'll take her to the future, where she can get help" Then Garth and his prisoner disappeared in a flash.

"You still haven't answered us what child?" said Clark whose tone was becoming harsher, as he stood behind and held Lois tight.

"Clark calm down and listen to your wife's heart beat" said Kara with a smile.

"What are you saying?" asked Lois as Clark turned his head to listen carefully. Then he heard it, the fast heartbeat of their child.

"Lois! You're pregnant!" said Clark as he picked her up and twirled her around.

"What! No I - um We can't be…really?"

"Yes! I can hear the heartbeat. Oh, it's so strong!"

"Clark! Are sure we are ready?" replied Lois, who couldn't keep the nerves out of her voice.

"Well dear you do have a few more months to get there" interjected Martha, who had overheard her son and daughter-in-law.

"Wait Kara what about the Kryptonite exposure?"

"Lois may I see the pendant?" asked Kara "Look here Clark. Don't touch it, but use your x-ray vision."

"I see it. That's Blue Kryptonite It's not very much" said Clark as he instinctively backed away.

"It should just be enough to affect Lois and the baby if she wears it. Here though is a switch that will encase the Kryptonite in lead so it will not affect anyone."

"That's ingenious" said Clark. "Kara how did you know all this"

"You and Lois having a child is well known in the future. The timing of this attack made me suspect your child to be the target. The attacker's apparent abilities made me nervous so I had this created. I'm sorry I had to keep all this from you two. I knew we would only have one chance to get this woman."

"Lana."

"Right, I'm sorry Clark" said Kara as Emil came up to check on Lois.

"It's ok. That wasn't the Lana I knew."

"Still I'm sorry you two couldn't find out earlier about your child. I asked Emil to not tell you just yet."

Emil nodded and said to Lois and Clark "As far as I can tell you and the baby are perfectly healthy."

"You should take Lois to the fortress to see if Jor-El's sensors can tell you anything more" said Kara.

"That's a good idea, will you come with us?" asked Clark.

"I'm not sure Jor-El will want to see me. He was the one that told me to go to the future or risk your chances against the Darkness" replied Kara.

"Jor-El has changed over the years. I think he will welcome you. Tomorrow then unless you have to get back."

"No, I think I will stay a while if you don't mind."

"Why don't you come and stay at the farm with Conner and me tonight Kara," said Martha. "It would give us a chance to get to know you a little better."

"We can come by in the morning to have breakfast before going to the fortress" added Lois, who had a smile thinking about food cooked by Martha.

"Oh, what happened to all the villains?" asked Clark.

"They are all in their proper cells. She must have sent them back herself" said Bruce as he came up behind Clark.

"Bruce! How's your arm?" asked Clark.

"You really should let me look at it" interjected Emil quickly.

"Fine now that we know they are all safe" said Bruce as he seemed to relax.

"How's everyone else?" asked Clark as Emil looked over Bruce's arm.

"As you can see from those around you, everyone else from the Antarctic team only had a few scrapes and bruises. Victor is currently repairing Tess, John is traveling to Mars to heal himself, and Canary is being treated for some minor burns. But no deaths or major casualties."

"So pretty good. In that case I'm going to take my wife home to ah… celebrate our good news" said Clark with a giant smile of his face.

"Clark!" said Lois as she punched Clark. He took the punch, but then wrapped his arms around her and took off towards their apartment.

"Oh I have to tell Chloe!" said Lois right as they were landing. Lois proceeded to get out her phone to call her cousin.

"Congratulations!" were the first words out of Chloe's mouth as she answered the phone.

"Chloe! Couldn't you wait until I told you?"

"No, I can't talk long. How about we get dinner tomorrow Ollie and I should be in Metropolis?"

"Ok, sure I'll let you know when we get back from the frozen north."

As soon as Lois had hung up, Clark now dressed in only his pajama pants wrapped his arms around Lois again. He began kissing her neck from behind.

In between soft moans Lois said, "You know I'm going to get big like a house. Oh my God! Where are we going to live?" she said as she turned around in Clark's arms and looked terrified.

"First of all, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes upon, no matter your size. And second, Lois we have time. It will be OK. Lets just focus on tonight. And think about all that other stuff tomorrow." Giving in to Clark's words and kisses, Lois released her thoughts for another time as her and her husband made love.

A few hours later Lois awoke seeing Clark floating almost three feet above the bed. Clark had pulled most of the covers up with him so it looked like she was under a tent. Lois thought back to the first time she caught him floating. It was the first night Clark had been able to stay in their apartment again after the radiation Lex had put on him was gone. She was so shocked by her floating husband she had let out a scream. Clark woke up and fell down on the bead breaking the frame. The two realized the situation and laughed for at least five minutes. Clark had replaced the frame the next day.

She knew he often floated when he was particularly happy often after sex, but other times too. It happened often enough that she had figured out a way to get him down without having to replace the bedframe. She reached up and stroked Clark's shoulder. Then she pulled him down until he was on the bed again. She wrapped his arms around her and rested her head against his chest until sleep took her again.

Hours later it was morning and Clark woke up with Lois' hair all over his face. He took a deep breath and squeezed her tight.

"You did it again" said Lois, who had been awake for a few minutes.

"Good morning to you too" replied Clark. Usually he had trouble believing Lois how many times she said he floated, but this time he knew it was true.

"How much longer do we have until we have to be at the farm?" asked Lois.

Something told Clark that Lois had a devious smile on her face. He started to float the two of them up. Once they were about a foot up, Clark flipped himself around Lois and let them both fall back to the bed, now with him on top.

* * *

About an hour later at the Kent farm

Martha was preparing breakfast in her kitchen. Conner and Kara walked in from checking on the garden, and watering the plants. There were a lot fewer chores now that they had rented much of the land to their neighbor. Martha liked having it her family here with her. She and Conner had gotten a lot closer over the last few years. He was a lot like Clark but also a lot like Lex, well the Lex she remembered from when Clark was in high school, the man she and Jonathan stood up for at his wedding to Dr. Bryce. Conner was definitely his own person though.

"I wish I didn't have school next week" announced Conner.

"We don't have to go back to Washington for another few days. Enjoy it while you have it" replied Martha

"I wish it was summer. I want to be back here full time."

"Speaking of which, are you sure you want to spend your summer here? I thought you were going to try to get an internship since you are graduating next year" said Martha.

"I know, but I don't even know what I want to do?"

"You're not going to be a reporter like Clark?" asked Kara.

"Haha" laughed Conner "Oh I know I don't want to do that! The summer after my freshman year I tried an internship at the Daily Planet. Let's just say I didn't get Clark's love of journalism."

"Have you asked Oliver or Bruce?" asked Martha.

"I don't want a hand out."

"It wouldn't be a hand out. I just think that working at either Queen Industries or Wayne Enterprises will give you lots of chances to try different things so you will have a better idea about what you want to do."

"I know. I'll think about it" said Conner. Then he turned to Kara and said "what about you, any idea what do you want to do with your life?"

"Conner T Kent! Don't be rude" said Martha

"It's ok aunt Martha, It's a fair question. It's one I have been trying to answer ever since I was freed form my space ship. I don't know."

"What did you do in the future?" asked Conner trying to be helpful.

"Well I was a full time superhero. I didn't need a secret identity" replied Kara.

"Oh…"

"Well, you are always welcome to stay here until you figure out what you want to do" added Martha.

Just then the front door opened and in rushed Shelby the dog followed by Clark and Lois. Shelby rushed in and ran straight to Kara.

"Hi boy! How have you been?" asked Kara as she gave Shelby lots of attention.

"Wow I see how it is" said Conner.

"Now you know how I feel when you visit" said Clark as he rubbed the top of Conner's head, messing up Conner's hair.

"How was the traffic?" asked Martha.

"Not bad, since we came Air-Clark" said a smiling Lois as she was taking off her arctic grade jacket and gloves. "We forgot to set an alarm…"

"You still made good time. I'm just about to start the pancakes."

As Martha finished cooking breakfast, all the Kents sat down around the table and talked about their lives. Kara told them stories about some villains she fought in the future. Conner talked about the classes he was taking. Lois talked about some of the upcoming stories she and Clark were working on.

After the meal Clark and Conner did the dishes. Kara and Martha enjoyed another cup of coffee. Lois sat with them and kept looking over at the coffee pot.

"Do you think caffeine will have any effect on a half-Kryptonian baby?"

"Lois!" said Clark from the kitchen. "It would still have an effect on you."

"Fine, I'll add it to the list of stuff to ask Jor-El" she said as she went over to start putting on her arctic gear.

"Lois you know Jor-El has changed the temperature settings to make the fortress comfortable for you" said Clark.

"I know, but what if he doesn't like me being pregers or his batteries go out. I'm just being prepared" replied Lois. Clark just smiled and chuckled back at his wife.

"Mom, Conner, Kara would you like to come to Metropolis for dinner tonight with Oliver and Chloe?" asked Clark.

"That sounds good" said Martha "I have a couple meetings in the city today so I will meet you all there."

"Conner, are you going to come with us to the fortress?" asked Kara.

"No, Jor-El and I don't always see eye to eye. Besides, I need to finish some homework."

"Homework eh. You sure you're not wanting to see a certain coffee girl?" asked Lois.

"I have no idea what you are talking about" responded Conner as her turned to hide his rosy face.

* * *

Clark Lois and Kara arrived in the fortress. They moved forwards towards the central console. Lois noticed the temperature was still set for her so she took off the large gloves and heavy jacket she was wearing.

"Jor-El I have returned" said Kara.

"Greetings Kara, I am glad you are well" replied the voice of Jor-El.

"You are not upset that I wish to spend time with my cousin and not return to the future?" asked Kara.

"I am not. I put the decision in front of you all those years ago and it seems that your presence in the future was what saved my son. Kal-El has embraced his destiny and your presence could only help the people of this world, especially with a new member of the house of El on the way."

"So you know. How long?" asked Clark.

"Only once you arrived here. I heard the other heartbeat. This is rather unexpected. We knew it was possible for Kryptonians and Humans to reproduce, but this was still unexpected." replied Jor-El.

"You're telling me!" said Lois.

"We are worried about Lois's safety" said Clark.

Suddenly a shaft of light appeared and Jor-El said "Lois would you please step into the light." Lois stepped forward. After a minute Jor-El spoke again "Lois would you please deactivate the Blue Kryptonite or take it off." She pressed the button on her pendant, and Jor-El finished his scans. The light disappeared and Lois rejoined Clark. "Do you want to know the gender of your child?" asked Jor-El.

"No!, um at least not yet" said Lois.

"Very well, the child appears perfectly healthy, and Lois appears healthy as well. There is an unexpected result as well."

"What?" asked Clark unable to hide his concern.

"Lois's DNA is changing. It is adopting Kryptonian characteristics. Not completely changing but I believe it is strengthening you, Lois, in order for your body to withstand the Kryptonian child. This was never theorized. I have no idea the overall effects or how long it will last. I suggest you return in a few weeks to monitor your progress. Or sooner if something happens"

"I think I can do that" said Lois.

"There is one more thing you should know. The Kryptonian gestation period is only about 32 weeks, compared to the average 40 weeks for humans. Therefore it is unknown how long you will be pregnant."

"How far along am I now?" asked Lois.

"You are about eight weeks, but the fetus looks closer to nine" said Jor-El.

"Oh I have a question. Can I still drink coffee?"

"The effects of the caffeine on your physiology and the baby's would be impossible to predict. I must caution you from drinking too much coffee."

"Fine! Smallville you better stock up on lots of decaf."

"I'll make sure and pick some up."

* * *

Oliver had reserved a private dining room at Chloe's favorite restaurant in Metropolis. Clark had a habit of brining more people with him to dinner normally, but Oliver also knew with all the Kents in town they were all likely to join them. He was happy to have them because Martha was like a mother to him. They were a family and even though he hadn't spent much time with Kara he trusted her. Chloe on the other hand was still a little worried the blond Kryptonian would try to steal her husband.

Conner and Martha had arrived and were sitting at the table with Oliver. Chloe was standing in the corner on the phone. Oliver had guessed she was calling the baby sitter to check on their children. His protégé Speedy, aka Mia Draden was sitting at the table next to Conner. Although she was a few years older than Conner they were pretty close. It must be related to how much time Oliver and Clark spend together.

Chloe hung up the phone and said, "Oliver, how did you convince me to leave my kids with Bart?"

"Your kids? I love how when you're worried their 'yours,' but when they do something bad their 'mine.' Can't we just agree they are ours" replied Oliver.

Mia leaned over to Conner and said "I bet you five bucks that those kids are running around faster than Impulse by the time these two get home."

"No thanks, I know I would lose that bet" replied Conner.

Into the room walked Clark Lois and Kara. They took the other seats around the table.

"So what did father-hardrive say?" asked Oliver.

"Not much useful. Basically it looks like the baby and I are healthy, but he doesn't know much else" replied Lois.

"And most importantly he said to stay away from caffeine" said Clark with a smile.

"Hey now, you're the one that's going to have to deal with me the most in a caffeine free state Smallville"

"And so it begins" said Mia under her breath.

"Clark and Lois are going to be just like Oliver and Chloe aren't they?" asked Conner.

"Yep, and guess who it going be the new babysitter?"

"What?"

"Yeah, you may want to tell Clark that when he texts you to help with an 'emergency' he specifies weather it's diaper or hero related. I can't count the number of times I have shown up all decked out in my gear to be handed a bottle" suggested Mia.

"I was starting to look forward to being an uncle" replied Conner.

"How far along are you?" asked Chloe

"It's a little hard to tell. Papa J thinks about 8 weeks, but Kryptonians develop faster. Really he has no idea when I will pop" answered Lois.

"Papa J?" asked Clark.

"We have to come up with names for the grandparents. We don't want our kid to talk about Jor-El their grandfather the computer."

"I'm going to claim Grandma before you come up with something else" interjected Martha.

"I'd like to be plain Uncle Conner if that's alright with you" added Conner.

"Fine, but if the baby calls you something else don't blame me"

"We also have some news we would like to share" said Chloe.

"We just bought a new place, and we are moving!" added Oliver.

"Where?"

"Here" answered Chloe.

"What?"

"We wanted to be closer to our family and James is going to be going to school soon. Chloe likes Metropolis more than Star City for schools."

"What about patrolling in Star City?" asked Mia, who was clearly hearing about all this for the first time.

"John, Tess, and Bruce think they have perfected the Zeta Beam tech Dr. Strange was working on when he disappeared. That will allow me to live here in one city and patrol another. If you want to live here you are more than welcome to move or you can stay in Star City. I was kind of hoping you would want to help me keep an eye on the corporate HQ if you think you up to it?" said Oliver.

"Oh, well I'll think about it"

"Where's your new place?" asked Lois.

"The top floor of the new Queen City Tower."

"That place is only five blocks from the Planet" responded Lois.

"Yep! Why don't we go check it out after dinner" said Oliver holding up a key.

**This is the conclusion of the Crone arc, but not the end of the story. If people are interested I think I will start a new story that will continue where this one left off. I'm brainstorming about villains and trying to think of an arc that is more like the season long villains of the last few seasons of Smallville. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this. I enjoyed writing it. Please Review!**

**Also if anyone has ideas on what Conner or Kara should be doing with their lives in their non-hero time I would love some help there. **

**A note on the magic used in this story. Zatanna was saying words backwards like in the Young Justice and other cases and Lana/Crone was using Latin. It has been a while since I translated into Latin so I apologize for any mistakes.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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